Breakwater



1967 c. M. LEAVITT 3,338,205

BREAKWATER Filed April 19, 1966 United States Patent 3,338,205 BREAKWATER Clyde M. Leavitt, Pascagoula, Miss., assignor to Th Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation, Pascagoula, Miss., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 543,641 9 Claims. (Cl. 114182) This invention relates to breakwaters, and more particularly to a ships breakwater adapted to dissipate wave energy from boarding seas to prevent damage to the ships superstructure and deck cargo. Breakwaters have long been used on watercraft to prevent boarding seas from washing the length of the deck, damaging vessel and cargo. In a large ship steaming into heavy seas the speed of a good-sized wave can be forty or fifty miles an hour. If the wave breaks over the bow of the ship proceeding contrary to the direction of wave-travel, water coming on deck races aft with great speed and force and does considerable damage. Deck houses, fittings and superstructure can be damaged extensively by a heavy boarding sea. Deck cargoes may be damaged or washed overboard. To obviate some of these difliculties breakwaters are provided to deflect water over the sides. The conventional breakwater heretofore known to the art has consisted of a plate running substantially the width of the ship, placed toward the bow. The plate may be placed on the deck at an angle, leaning forward or vertically. However, a large wave taken over the bow may swamp a conventional breakwater, the water aft being deep enough to flow over the top and proceed to damage the superstructure or deck cargo. The present invention includes a water absorbent area forward of the breakwater. Thus, much of the water making up the Wave coming over the bow will be absorbed and discharged overboard before it can hit the breakwater. The novel combination of water absorber and breakwater provides much greater protection to superstructure and deck cargo than the conventional breakwater alone.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide means for dissipating the energy of waves boarding a vessel.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wave energy dissipating breakwater to prevent damage to a vessels superstructure and deck cargo.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wave energy dissipating breakwater taking up a minimum of space usable for cargo, and is simple and inexpensive to build.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification and drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the embodiment of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 illustrates a third embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGURE 5 illustrates a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGURE 1 thereof, a breakwater 11 is mounted forward on a ship 12. As illustrated, the breakwater runs athwartships extending nearly to the edge of deck 13. Forward of the breakwater 11 is a well 14, running athwartships parallel to breakwater 11. A water-transparent cover is provided over well 14 fitting flush with deck 13. Cover 15 is rendered water-transparent by providing a plurality of apertures 16 communicating with well 14. A freeing 3,338,205 Patented Aug. 29, 1967 port 17 is provided on the starboard side of the vessel and freeing port 21 is provided on the portside. Freeing ports 17 and 21 communicate directly with well 15. The well is further defined by forward bulkhead 22 and aft bulkhead 23.. As illustrated in FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 2, water coming over the bow is absorbed by the openings 16 into well 14 and discharged through discharge ports 17 and 21 prior to hitting breakwater 11. Thus, breakwater 11 in combination with well 14 can handle a much larger wave taken over the bow, providing greater protection to the superstructure and deck cargo.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, a modification of the present invention is illustrated, employing spring biased doors at freeing ports 17 and 21. Spring loaded doors 24 are provided on the starboard side and spring loaded doors 25 on the portside. Doors 24 and 25 are normally closed. However, when a boarding sea fills the well 14 through apertures 16, the weight of the water overcomes the biasing spring and doors 24 and 25 open, allowing the water to escape overboard.

The breakwater 11 cannot extend the full width of the deck, since passages must be provided on the port and starboard sides providing crew access to forward deck areas. The passages allow a certain amount of water to race past breakwater 11 on either side, which can damage deck fittings or deck cargo. To prevent such damage, auxiliary breakwaters 26 and 27 on the port and starboard sides, respectively, are provided to deflect overboard any water going aft past the edges of breakwater 11. Auxiliary breakwaters 26 and 27 are placed symmetrically at acute angles to breakwater 11 and aft thereof. Thus, any water escaping past the edges of breakwater 11 is deflected overboard by auxiliary breakwaters 26 and 27 while still allowing passage around either side of breakwater 11.

The modification of this invention illustrated in FIG- URE 4 employs a plurality of breakwaters 11a, 11b and 11, each with an accompanying well 14a, 14b and 140. The breakwaters, 11a, 11b and 110, and their accompanying wells are graduated in size, with the lowest breakwater 11a forward. It will be apparent that boarding sea will be partially absorbed by the first well 14a and deflected by the first breakwater 11a. Remnants will be further absorbed by the second well 14b and deflected by second breakwater 11b, while the remaining water will be deflected by the third breakwater 11c into the third well 14c and discharged overboard. By providing a plurality of breakwaters and absorbing wells, much larger boarding seas can be handled and particularly fragile deck cargoes, such as containers, are protected from damage by boarding seas.

A further modification of this invention is illustrated in FIGURE 5. A breakwater 31 is provided having a V shape to deflect water to the sides. Forward of breakwater 31 is a tapered V shaped well 32 covered with a deck grating 33. A freeing port 34 is illustrated on the port side of the vessel. A similar freeing port is provided on the starborad device. Tapering well 32 enables a greater volume of cargo space below the forward deck without a sacrifice of efiicieucy of well 32. A relatively small amount of water is absorbed amidships, with additional increments being added to the water in the well as it moves toward the side for discharge. Thus, well 32 is wider toward the sides of the vessel where it must carry more water, but is narrow at the centerline where less water must be provided for.

Since many variations of the hereinabove disclosed embodiments of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is to be given its broadest possible interpretation within the terms of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a watercraft:

a breakwater positioned athwartship on the forward Weather deck of said Watercraft; a well forward of said breakwater for collecting water prior to its impingement upon said breakwater; freeing ports in the sides of said watercraft whereby water collected in said well may be discharged overboard.

2. In the combination of claim 1, said well being parallel to said breakwater.

3. In the combination of claim 2, said well extending substantially the length of, and adjacent to, said breakwater.

4. In the combination of claim 3, water-transparent means covering said well flush with the surface of said weather deck.

5. In the combination of claim 4, said breakwater comprising a fiat structure mounted at an acute angle to said deck toward the bow of said watercraft, and a passageway on either side of said breakwater adjacent the deck edge.

6. In the combination of claim 5, said freeing'ports having doors resiliently biased to a closed position and operated to an open position by water collected in said well.

7. In the combination of claim 5, secondary breakwaters aft of said breakwater in way of said passageways, said secondary breakwaters forming acute angles with said breakwater.

8. In the combination of claim 5, said breakwater having a V shape with the apex forward at the center of said watercraft.

9. In the combination of claim 5, a plurality of breakwaters and wells serially arranged parallel to one another.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,572,074 2/1926 Nelson 1l4-182 2,660,142 11/1953 Swenson 114l82 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner.

ANDREW FARRELL, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION WITH A WATERCRAFT; A BREAKWATER POSITIONED ATHWARTSHIP ON THE FORWARD WEATHER DECK OF SAID WATERCRAFT; A WELL FORWORD OF SAID BREAKWATER FOR COLLECTING WATER PRIOR TO ITS IMPINGEMENT UPON SAID BREAKWATER; FREEING PORTS IN THE SIDES OF SAID WATERCRAFT WHEREBY WATER COLLECTED IN SAID WELL MAY BE DISCHARGED OVERBOARD. 